Pie Making and Thanksgiving 2019

We enjoy the days leading up to Thanksgiving as we get to work preparing for the big feast.  One thing I look forward to is making pies with the kids.  

Taylor is hard at work helping me stir.

This Banana Cream Pie looks delish...thanks Taylor!

One pie McKenzie love to help me make is a Lemon Truffle Pie.  It is probably our most favorite pie EVER!  She enjoys the extra things like grating lemons and fancy stuff while following this recipe.

Stirring the lemon curd mixture.

Lemon Truffle Pie Perfection!

Now for my chocolate loving Brielle, stirring the made from scratch pudding mixture.

Now she is on to chopping rich chocolate.

Chocolate Cream Pie...check!

Payton is a great helper in the kitchen too, probably because he is such a foodie and enjoys a good meal, therefore he doesn't mind putting in some work to eat well.

Gavin is my muncher and loves to taste the samples of good things made in this kitchen...it is rewarding to see his face messy and enjoying yummy things.

We enjoyed some pie and eggnog as a family that evening!

Thanks for all your hard work my sweet little helpers!

Oh boy look at that drift left in front of our garage...Oh Montana!

It is crazy how it seems to settle in masses right in front of our front door.

Winter fun with the kids as they like to explore and build fun forts in the massive drifts.

This year we spent Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa Swensen's.  Here is a super cute kids' table with Will, Brooklyn, and Gavin.

Finger Olives are a Thanksgiving staple for kids!

Payton, Kenzie, and Great Grandpa Swensen ready to enjoy their feast.

On the other side of the table was Taylor, Mckay, and Brielle happily ready to enjoy this yummy food.

I am so grateful for loving family and the tight relationships that we have.

Thanksgiving is such a good reminder of the many blessings we have and time spent with loved ones.  It was a perfect day!

Fall Happenings 2019

As mentioned earlier, Gavin loves coming to town with me when we run errands together.  I love the occasional lunch date with him as well.  Other than McDonald's Happy Meals (which once he finally got to experience one of those this fall...he thought he was in HEAVEN!!), he also really likes going to Panda Express.

It is the simple little things that make life enjoyable.

I love his precious face.

Kenzie decorated a fun cake for her Young Women activity!  Pretty and yummy!

Then during a sports game the girls decided to do our face masks.  Fall is always a fun time to stay home and enjoy more time together, doing things together that we love!  I love my girl time with these two princesses!

Julie at the Great Falls office spoiled my kids by giving them all her children's old pet shop stuff.  The little kids sure have fun with these things.

Taylor is finishing up scouts and has a good time with these boys and their leaders.  They made some cool pottery things.

Payton had an 8th grade project he was working on with a few of his buddies.  Mckay decided to make the guys some snacks and they were pretty excited about that!

I can't quite remember why I snapped this picture of Payton at the church in his Sunday clothes.  I am trying to rack my brain to remember if he had a talk, a dance, an interview, maybe even tithing settlement.  Either way, he is a handsome kid.

Here is Brielle pictured in the front left all cute and singing nicely for the Veteran's Day Program.

I love this little girl and her style!

Now it is Taylor's turn to belt it out in song.  He is also pictured in the front left.

Looking sharp Taylor!

Gavin has a cute Buzz Lightyear bank and was eager to see how much money he had.

This cute little face was itching to spend some of his money on a toy.

This picture makes me smile with that darling little grin.  Gavin's money is bagged up and ready to take to town with us.

My girls are becoming great little cooks.  They seem to enjoy helping in the kitchen and there are times they just want to take it on and do things on their own.

For Rachel's birthday a group got together to go out and celebrate.  We enjoyed giggling as we got cute pedicures and had some much needed girl time.

I am so appreciative of good friends.  That is one huge blessing in my life.  Having the support of good friends is a treasure I never want to take for granted!

This fall has been a fun and busy one.  The kids are starting to come and go to various activities more and more and we keep busy as a family learning and growing together.

Preschool Fun with Gavin

It has been an enjoyable time for me to have with Gavin this school year.  We spend some time learning together and doing preschool.  I will forever treasure this time I get to spend with him.  There are times we take a break from preparing for kindergarten and learning and head off to have lunch with Mckay at the office or pause to run a few errands in town.  He is so fun to take along and is such an easy going kiddo!

Here he has on an apron while painting a project.

What a cutie pie!

He really enjoys doing things like this.

We also like to make trips to the Choteau library for an occasional story time and a craft.

I treasure times like this for I know just how fast they grow up.